Wednesday

The three main characters in the story, which is set in Rome in 1800, all die: the brave painter who shelters an escaped political prisoner, the opera singer who loves the painter, and the vindictive police chief whose actions lead to their tragic deaths.

Widely viewed as melodramatic, “Tosca” nonetheless is a popular opera because of the power of the music and the characters’ passion. Where Puccini’s “La Boheme” (the inspiration for the musical “Rent”) was a story of individuals subject to fate (disease), “Tosca” is a story of individuals who drive their own lives, said Esther Nelson, artistic director of the Boston Lyric Opera.

The character Tosca makes choices based on her passion for opera and her lover, the painter Cavaradossi. Cavaradossi acts on his sympathies for a supporter of Napoleon. And Scarpia, the police chief, is pushed by his antipathy toward the republic and his lust for Tosca.

“Everyone is driven by passion,” Nelson said. “Like so many of Puccini’s operas, it has that complete package of beautiful, powerful music as well as the theatrical impulse and instinct. Other operas are as powerful, but not as immediately accessible.”

Based on a play by Victorien Sardou and sung in Italian with English subtitles, “Tosca” raises questions that are as compelling today as they were in 1900. Would you risk your life to protect a friend and a cause? To save your lover, would you make a bargain that required you to submit to a man you loathed? Who can you trust?

Tosca is played by soprano Elena Stikhina, a Russian singer whose career has taken off in the past two years and who is making her American debut. Since graduating from the Moscow State Conservatory in 2012, Stikhina has performed at the Paris Opera, the Gut Immling Opera Festival in Germany, and other major venues. She won the audience prize in Placido Domingo’s opera competition Operalia in 2016.

In an unusual decision, Nelson hired Stikhina nearly three years ago based on her audition; she had never seen her onstage in a role. Nelson is glad she took the risk.

“When we hired her, she wasn’t really known outside Russia, and since then she has had major roles in Europe,” Nelson said. “We took a leap of faith because we knew there was something amazing there. It’s the voice, but also the personality.”

Stikhina, who has sung the role previously, said the complexity of her character makes the role particularly meaningful for her.

“She has so many sides to her,” she said. “She’s like a teenager in her love, but also a woman who is strong when she faces a desperate situation. It’s a difficult role to sing and play.”

The trajectory of this Tosca is particularly dramatic, because she is a young singer who has yet to find fame, Nelson said. More typically, Tosca is a diva – played by an older singer – who is accustomed to the power of being viewed as a star. Originally naive and optimistic, Tosca seizes control when she murders Scarpia and, at the opera’s end, kills herself.

“Tosca has the vulnerability of a young woman, but has the courage to take action,” Nelson said. “In the beginning, all she wants to live for are art and love, but she develops enormous steel and decision-making power. Elena is on the young side and has that young-girl quality.”

Tenor Jonathan Burton, making his Boston Lyric Opera debut, plays her lover, Cavaradossi, and baritone Daniel Sutin, who was Macbeth in the opera’s 2011-12 season, plays the police chief, Scarpia.

The most well-known arias in “Tosca” are “Vissi d’arte” (I’ve lived for art), sung by Tosca when she is blackmailed by Scarpia to submit to his lust in exchange for her lover’s freedom, and “E lucevan le stelle” (How the stars shimmer), sung by Cavaradossi, as he reflects on his life while he awaits execution, after Scarpia has betrayed his bargain with Tosca. The nearly 60-piece orchestra, conducted by David Stern, is seated behind a scrim on stage, which has been extended into the house to make room for the musicians.

Stikhina fell in love with the opera when she first heard it as conservatory student, and she hopes audiences will do the same.

“I hope they will hear the music and see the drama and their hearts will be touched,” she said.